Long and Narrow

Review: Sony Xperia 10 VI - With a Unique Compact Design

If you like Sony's long and narrow design, the Xperia 10 VI is one of a kind.

Published 9 September 2024 - 00:00 Modified 24 January 2025 - 17:11

One cannot claim that there is a great variety in the format of mobile phones. If we disregard foldable phones, one can say that the choice is between the larger or the smaller, and if you want a cheap mobile, only the larger is available. In each category, the mobiles are very similar to each other.

In this way, Sony has been somewhat of a breath of fresh air with its individuality. They have not only made mobiles with an extra elongated screen but also refrained from embedding the selfie camera. Particularly the smaller Xperia 5 and Xperia 10 stand out for being the narrowest mobiles on the market with a width of under 70 mm (Asus Zenfone 10 comes close). Whether narrowness is what makes the phone easy to use with one hand while the screen is so tall can be debated, but the point here is that the format represents an alternative that is otherwise missing.

After trudging along in worn tracks in recent years, Sony surprised this year by making its Xperia 1 in the completely ordinary 19.5:9 format. We also have indications that there will be no Xperia 5 this year, so this makes the Xperia 10 VI the only remaining phone with Sony's own long and narrow format.

Xperia 10 is Sony's series for mid-range models, and the recommended price is 5000 kronor. In that price range, you don't expect luxurious materials, and most people are probably satisfied with the phone having a rather anonymous plastic back. The fingerprint reader is located in the power button, and the phone has a headset jack, but not a camera button like the Xperia 1 has. The screen is completely flat, and the selfie camera is, as previously mentioned, in the frame, but the black edge above the screen is still so thin that one wonders why more don't choose this solution.

Weaker screen

When compared to other phones in the same price range, and disregarding that they are larger and bulkier in comparison, the screen is somewhat of a weakness by today's standards. The resolution is fine, but the maximum brightness is a bit weak, especially compared to other new phones that have increasingly brighter screens that work well even in sunlight. You can't say that about the Xperia 10 VI. Perhaps even more noticeable is the screen's refresh rate of 60 hertz, which causes lag when you scroll. Today, we find few phones other than in the budget class that don't have a 120 Hz screen, and that contributes surprisingly much to the user experience.

Performance is also a weakness relative to the price tag, but here Sony is not alone in being stingy. The chipset is Snapdragon 6 gen 1, which is a performance upgrade compared to the Snapdragon 695 that was in last year's model, but it is still a two-year-old mid-range chipset. By today's standards, the phone feels a bit sluggish, but never so slow that it hinders using the phone.

Snapdragon 695 had the advantage that all phones with this chipset had top-class battery life. This characteristic seems to have been inherited by Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, as even the Xperia 10 VI is a phone with battery life clearly above average, both in our battery test where we measure screen time and in practical use.

One fewer camera

Sony Xperia 10 VI has two cameras on the back, a main camera with 48 megapixels and a wide-angle camera with 8 megapixels. It is one camera less than its predecessor, but Sony argues that the 8-megapixel zoom camera with two times magnification that was in the phone could just as well be replaced by utilizing the high resolution of the main camera to zoom and achieve at least as good results. I also thought so when I tested the predecessor, and you can indeed take pictures that are sharp at two times magnification with the camera.

However, the cameras are quite weak for the price tag. Samsung, for example, has the Galaxy A35 in the same price range with decent cameras, whereas here there is a certain budget feel to the cameras. The images are sharp but a bit dull in colors. Photography in low light is definitely not the camera's strength, but it doesn't completely embarrass itself there either. The wide-angle camera, in turn, takes pictures with noticeably worse sharpness than the main camera.

When it comes to Sony's interpretation of Android, they put quite a bit of energy into creating their own apps for audio and video, but this is mainly for the Xperia 1, and in the cheaper Xperia 10 VI, you don't notice much of it. A couple of apps for video editing and audio mixing are included, but for example, the camera app is simpler and lacks a Pro mode with manual settings. Sony promises three major system updates and four years of security updates for the phone.

If it weren't for the format, the Sony Xperia 10 VI would have a hard time standing out among other phones around 5000 kronor. But as mentioned, most phones in this price range are quite large, which means the phone fills a niche. In this niche, it does an okay job.

Questions and Answers

Is it a good phone to use with one hand? It is easy to grip with one hand, but the long and narrow format means you can't reach the top of the screen with your thumb.

How much faster is the Xperia 10 VI than the Xperia 10 V? About 40 percent faster in our performance tests. Compared to other mid-range models, the performance is in the lower tier.

How are the speakers? The phone has a pair of fairly good stereo speakers with slightly low maximum volume.

An alternative

Motorola Edge 50 Neo is another fairly compact phone. The price tag is a bit higher but still not close to what a compact top model costs, and the performance is better than for Xperia 10 VI.